The Handmaid's Tale The Home Quotes

How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #10

I breathe in the soap smell, the disinfectant smell, and stand in the white bathroom, listening to the distant sounds of water running, toilets being flushed. In a strange way I feel comforted, at home. There is something reassuring about the toilets. Everybody shits, as Moira would say. (39.5)

Again, in a hotel the narrator "feel[s] comforted, at home." Except she's in a hotel that's been repurposed as a brothel, and she's arrived there with someone she doesn't love. Despite this, something about the soap and the toilets gives her a feeling of "home" that nothing else in Gilead can provide.